Air Force Flight Test Center

Transcription

1 Air Force Flight Test Center War-Winning Capabilities On Time, On Cost How Today s Complexity Drives Future Range Requirements This Briefing is: UNCLASSIFIED Brigadier General David J. Eichhorn AFFTC Commander 30 Oct 2007 I n t e g r i t y - S e r v i c e - E x c e l l e n c e 1

2 Future Range Requirements Cost and complexity are increasing Funding is decreasing Range constraints are increasing 2

3 Facing Changes B-52 with CALCM F-15 with LRSOW B-2 with SDBs Directed Energy Hypersonic 3

4 Trends Gravity GBU CBU WCMD JDAM Glide LONGSHOT JSOW SDB Powered TOMAHAWK JASSM JDRADM 4

5 Complexity of Weapons Tests 5

6 Test and Training Challenges Resource contention Aging fleet Mission priorities Complexity 6

7 Test Ranges Need Airspace distance over land Restricted use for safety and security Network capabilities and bandwidth Infrastructure 7

8 Ranges Today 8

9 Range Constraints Today 9

10 Other Constraints on Today s Testing Environmental Commercial Airspace Population Encroachment 10

11 Finding Ranges for Testing 11

12 Finding Ranges for Testing 12

13 Considerations 13

14 Current Hypersonic Projects Test Planning underway X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle Land at VAFB, EAFB Backup X-51A Scramjet Demo Vehicle (Mach 5) B-52 Launch, Pt Mugu, ocean impact FALCON Blackswift Study (Mach 6) Horizontal takeoff and landing 2011 Future Responsive Access to Space Technologies (FAST)

15 Range Safety Public safety responsibility rests with the Range Commander Safety guidelines set by Range Commander Requires vehicle situation awareness from two independent sources during total trajectory Flight termination system must be independent of aircraft systems Required for all non-piloted UAVs 15

16 Range Where to fly driven by vehicle type Reentry vehicle landing established by manned Space Shuttle Air-Launched vehicle can be launched required distance from landing site Non-recoverable can be launch over ocean Suffers lost ability to inspect or refly Programs are now defining need to recover Horizontal or vertical takeoff and landing is the challenge Vehicle must fit the takeoff and landing sites available AND with acceptable corridors Data Acquisition sites must be located to support all potential trajectories to support data collection and continuous situation awareness for Range safety 16

17 EA Process Requires vehicle characteristics and trajectories, including envelope expansion First product is the Quantitative Risk Assessment to determine range safety acceptability Other analysis required for: Sonic booms, commercial air traffic, impact to ground test sites, etc EA can cost $500k and take 2 years Test Range pre-defining and conducting initial EAs for assumed configurations can reduce time and cost to specific projects 17

18 EAFB Hypersonic Test Corridors Mach 8 Air-Launched Research Vehicles 400 nm Risk Assessment Completed 825 nm Risk Assessment in work 18

19 EAFB Hypersonic Test Corridors 19

20 X-51 Mission Pt Mugu VAFB LOS ~ 320 nmi SNI LOS ~ 280 nmi Mugu LOS ~ 260 nmi VAFB NP-3D LOS ~ 460 nmi NP-3D 34.0 T = 0, Launch 0 nmi, 0.8Mn, 49.5k Mugu 33.5 Latitude T = 582, Splash Down ~400 nmi, 0.84 Mn, SL T = 295, Engine Shutoff SNI T = 30, Separation ~13 nmi, 4.89Mn, 59k B-52 ~240 nmi, 6.01Mn, 74k T = ~32, Engine Start (Ethylene) 32.0 ~13 nmi, 4.87Mn, 60k 31.5 Max Mach Trajectory Longitude Longitude All distances calculated from the Launch location o W, 33.5 o N NOTIONAL 20

21 Future Range Needs Test Components Operational End-to-End Ideal Test and Training Airspace and ground exclusive test use Range Support Support all tests all the time Connectivity End to End all parameters Reality Test or Training Limited restricted use airspace and range Priorities and support Priorities and pick parameters and throughput 21

22 Examples of Ongoing and Future Coordination Meeting expanded airspace test requirements Work with civil aviation Narrow test schedule requirements Improve confidence in tests Proven Flight Termination System Test components to improve trust in combined system Identify locations with reduced potential for impacts Reduce competition for Range time Coordinate training and test scheduling Improve testing Improve test methodology and tools 22

23 What next? Develop flexible mobile test infrastructure for deployment to different test locations Test at varied locations Some currently used Some joint agency Some historically not used for tests Government, industry, and the public must work together to meet test requirements 23

24 Complexity Drives Future Ranges Complexity will only increase One-stop shopping for all tests is unrealistic Weapons systems costs will drive test and training Safety will continue to be number one requirement Testing and training ranges face multiple complex constraints Future Range requirements will be met by coordination and flexibility 24